Chris Cline, Daughter, Friends Remembered at Community Vigil

BECKLEY, W.Va. (WOAY) – Hundreds gathered at the Paul Cline Memorial Sports Complex to remember seven people killed in a helicopter, including prominent West Virginia native and billionaire Chris Cline.

Cline was a local mining entrepreneur that worked his way up in the industry since was a teenager. He was vacationing in the Bahamas with his daughter Kameron and her three friends last week. One of those friends was Delaney Wykle, a recent nursing school graduate from Hinton.

When one member of the group fell ill, they elected to take a helicopter back to Florida. Wykle’s family said she got on board to help her sick friend–just as she was always meant to do.

“She lost her life doing what she went to school to do and that was to be a caregiver,” said Wykle family friend Richard Jarrell. “That’s the kind of thing that speaks to me, but we want to remember everyone tonight.”

Delaney had just found out she passed her nursing boards one day before the accident. Kameron was a recent Louisiana State Graduate where she had studied business finance.

Kassie Simmons joined the team in January 2019 as a weekend journalist. She graduated from Virginia Tech in just two and a half years with a BA in multimedia journalism.
During her short time at Virginia Tech, she served as the editor for the university’s chapter of The Tab. Kassie was named the top reporter for The Tab at Virginia Tech on multiple occasions and made the list for the top 30 reporters for The Tab in the U.S. She also studied theater performance and minored in creative writing.
Before coming to WOAY, Kassie interned at WSLS in Roanoke and the Tidewater Review in her hometown of West Point, Va. She has loved following breaking news since her childhood and has a passion for delivering the stories people care most about.
Kassie is excited to be working in Southern West Virginia and looks forward to all the adventures ahead of her. You can follow her on Twitter at @KassieLSimmons and like her page on Facebook. If you have a story you think she should check out, send her an email at ksimmons@woay.com.